MkIII Cams?

[Knestis]

Question for you ETKA gurus out there...

Is there just one, or did MORE than one spec of cam come in MkIII Golfs? (Golves?) I'm talking among US-only, spec-line legal cars. I have evidence that seems to suggest the latter...

K

[Dave Zaslow]

Kirk,

FYI. There are OBD1 and 2 cams listed. Got a cam doctor handy? Let us know the results

Dave Z

[Bill Miller]

Kirk,

I'm pretty sure Dave is correct. The early Mk III cars were OBDI and the later cars were OBDII (IIRC, cutover was '96). It does beg the question though, at what point does it become a component of an assembly? I don't think you can mix and match them.

[shwah]

If there are two, either would be legal for either car, just like if there were two transmission gear sets either would be legal, or if there were two door configurations (aka small window/big window A2). The cam is not part of the engine management system so I would not think twice about choosing my favorite between the two.

[Knestis]

...but I've found the same cam (marked the same, same lift, no Cam Doctor so don't know much more yet) in both OBDI and OBDII cars, and a different cam in one - suggesting that the difference isn't so simple as "OBDI cam" and "OBDII cam."

Is that VIN cut point on the ETKA page where the OBD transition happened? What does a page for a '93 or '97 car say, since there's no question that they would be just one or the other?

Thoughts?

K

[Conover]

Doesn't that ETKA page clearly show either in an ABA? What does our local dealership parts guy say, he should be able to interpret that.

[Dave Zaslow]

Info requested:

Cam Part #'s per ETKA

1993 048 109 101A OBD1

1994>5 048 109 101D OBD1

1996> 050 109 101A OBD2

The split between OBD1 and 2 (mid 96 model year):

Through serial # 107409 = OBD1

From serial # 107410 = OBD2

Now go measure those cams!

[Bill Miller]

Dave,

What you're saying is that there are actually 3 different cams, TWO OBD 1 and one OBD 2. Is there anything different between the OBD 1 and OBD 2 heads?

[JamesB]

The major differenct I know with the OBD1 and OBD2 crossflow heads is emmisions port. On the OBD2 there is an emmisions port that you need to plug if you remove the air pump system. I wouldn't be surprised if they changed the cam to increase power and work with the new emissions either.

[Conover]

Not all OBDII cars have air pumps, just like not all OBDI cars had EGR valves, not that it really matters to us.

[Dave Zaslow]

FYI.

Who is going to volunteer to test all of these in IT prep form?

Some OBD1 heads are German castings (mine is) and all the rest are Mexican castings.

Dave Z

[turboaudi80]

The OBDII heads use only 1 valve spring. The OBD1 heads use the double springs like the MK1 and MK2 cars. I don't think you can mix and match within the rules.

[Conover]

Right, the long block is an assembly, but if the cams each came in either, that would be another story, but I don't think so, I think you probably have only one legal choice for a camshaft in an OBDI head, OBDII there are two choices.

[Bill Miller]

If that's the case w/ the valve springs, I agree w/ you Cameron. But, according to what Dave Z. said, isn't it the other way around, 2 ODD I and 1 OBD II?

[Conover]

I explained the whole question to my parts guru at the local VW dealer, he says acording to ETKA the OBDI cars never had the 050 cam, but some of the OBDII cars had the 050 and some had the 048. Acording to his interpretation of the information on ETKA. There are many reasons to prefer the OBDI engine, but it seems that the Camshaft just isn't one of them. That being said, prove me wrong PLEASE! I'd love to have the choice to run the other cam!

[Bildon]

>> I'd love to have the choice to run the other cam!

Do we know the specs on these cams yet?
If somebody will send me cams I'll measure them and create a profile for each one.

[Conover]

The specs are on here:
http://www.techtonicstuning.com/cams.asp

The one listed for the G/J4 is also found in ODBII A3's

[Knestis]

I confess that I'm not entirely confident about how the PN's that we have in the documentation line up with the physical specimens that we have, since there's no definitive markings on the castings. We were able to confirm that the lift values of the units we have in hand match the numbers in the TT literature but there's some supposition following that...

K